The bebe kids...

The bebe kids are hard at work putting the final touches on their projects. Six weeks of shenanigans, and we are going to finish off strong. It has been an interesting summer. Most of the bebes have anger problems, for example, as I am writing this, Nicole is beating the keys of the computer and whining "It won't let me wriiiiite!"Amanda is making weird growling sounds, Marckenson has a deep eyebrow furrow, and the rest of the seeds of Chuckie are in deep thought. Oh, wait a minute... Amanda just tossed her computer to the side. Liz and Rithly think they are Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey but in reality, they sound like Ciara on crack. The struggle... I tell you.

PS: Don't judge the weird hats and wigs, I gave up trying to understand.

If you can't beat them...join them

Reporting Live From Tampa

Hey Guys! Its me again and like I said last week I was going to Tampa. Well I’m here! Today is our second day here and we are having a blast. Yesterday on the way up to Tampa we went to MOSI. MOSI is the Museum of Science and Industry, its not like most museums. Its really cool. At MOSI we got to watch a IMAX movie about butterflies. I learned a lot about Monarch butterflies that I didn’t know before. Monarch’s have a very hard life. Its a struggle for them to be born yet alone survive and have babies of their own. After visiting MOSI we checked in at the hotel. Then my friends and I got dolled up to go out to dinner at Golden Coral. Today we took a trip to Desto Beach. There we chilled and had free beach time. Some of my fellow peers even seen a sting ray. Meanwhile the poor Juniors were doing work, that “Senior Status” was finally kicking in. After that we went to Desto Preserve. At the Desto Preserve we learned a lot about Hernando Desto. He was a conquistador from Spain that came to Florida looking for gold. He didn’t accomplish anything! The native americans weren’t giving up ther land that easily. The native amearcians fought until the end, literally! Many of them were killed by Desto and his men. 


                                                                                                                     - Mystic 

Its Only The Beginning

So last week was the first week of my last offical summer. I'm finally a senior! Last week went just as I expected. Since it's my fourht summer nothing is really new to me. So far though the only thing I don't like is my summer project. Part of the project is creating this blog that I am writing now, making a website and writing a 5-6 page paper. I understand the mentors are making us write this paper to help us prepare for college but really? Who wants to write a paper during their last high school summer? I don't ! It's alright though; I'm going to pull through. I'll keep you all updated.

                                                                                                          
                                                                                                                                   -Mystic

Caught on camera: Time Out

Bebe kids get time out...

New excitements

July 10, 2013

We emerged onto the bus, teeming with excitement for our up-coming adventure. The juniors and seniors, nuzzled up, with crust still in their eyes. Yawning and gathering their sugary and salty snacks. We prepare for a 5 hour bus ride towards Tampa. Bugs splatter on the windshield of the bus, our eyes glued to the multiple T.V. screens, socializing our lives away. Our lunch consisted of either healthy, brown bagged lunch or greasy, unknown lunch from a red and white bag, gold ol’ McDonalds. Lovely. Soon, we were on the bus once again, headed to a museum, full of science stuff. Over flowing with dinosaur bones, butterfly fields, and a beautiful, mesmerizing film about an expedition on butterflies. I was amazed by the dome-like screen. After the movie, I was challenged by a fellow senior to an epic battle of air-hockey in the movie theater lobby. Sweat was beading down our necks as we barked out offensive slurs at one another, in a good-natured friendly competition kind of way. We were tied, one win to one win, when we realized we were short on time. Raymond and I tossed our strikers to a couple of juniors and dashed towards the gift shop, to meet up with the others, and for I to get something for my significant other’s birthday. Soon we left for our hotel. All in all, our first day going to/ in Tampa was phenomenal and by the time we got settled into our rooms, I couldn't wait to go to sleep, then awaken to the next breath taken day to come. 

-Leandra

Density lab....Colorful liquids man

So its the second to last week and every thing is going pretty smooth. On Tuesday we had a speaker by the name of  Lisa Pitman and she was a middle school teacher that has taught in Miami-Dade for 12 years and such. Even though she is a teacher she volunteers to the University of Miami whenever she can, which is a lot of time on her hands, and she talked to us as if we were some kids but in my opinion it is nice to be treated like a child you know like you don't have to think about world hunger or like which clothes will I wear that day. Back on topic, Ms.Barbara took us to the wet lab and she gave us this very simple brake down of density and told us we were going to do a lab on it. The lab was very simple, I mean a third grader could do it and not mess it up, all we had to do was pour some liquids into a Beaker and stack the liquids  on top of each other by pouring them slowly into the beaker. The liquids we used were, in order from top to bottom, alcohol, baby oil, corn oil, alcohol, water, dawn soap, Karo corn syrup and honey. It was a very colorful lab and very interesting. Later on in the day we simply worked on projects and went home so that day was very......dense haha see what I did there.....ahhh whatever.

                                                                                                                                       -Raymond Pache

In Tampa

Beep Beep! Now there goes the sound of my alarm 5:30AM alarm clock. Knowing that it’s soon to end with our trips with our class of 2014. Gathering together in the breakfast hall seeing it all go back quickly. Saying good bye to Miami yesterday was fun to leave everything back behind. But as the day go by and we filled with adventure. Our first stop at MOSI (Museum of Science Industry) was quite interesting. Coming from the Miami Science Museum and going to another one was different.  Seeing the difference and similarities of the two was a learning experience.  Coming from De Soto national park and preserve was very informative. Learning about the history of Tampa and a greedy man that use to walk through the streets that we now walk on. Later ending the day at the pool talking as one as we reminisce.  Oh Boy, What a day!

-Rithly

Mark's aquatic adventure

Every year in IMPACT we have guest speakers that come and talk to us about their careers and the different things they do. Some of the guest speakers are mind-boggling boring and some are refreshingly interesting.  One of the guest speakers that was interesting was Mark Tahulka.  He started out by explaining to us the different tasks he did as a marine biologist, he explain the proper ways to dive.  After, he went on to explain an aquatic adventure he went on. There’s an undersea laboratory by the name of Aquarius that’s 100ft deep and 4 miles off the shore of Key Largo. The purpose of it is to do research, observe the undersea environment, assist in the development of undersea technology, and it’s a national training facility and a place for ocean education. Mark always wanted to go there but the chances of going there is  0 unless you have research to do at the bottom of the sea that would requires you to live there.   A couple of years ago he had an opportunity to do go since marine biology teachers could apply to get a chance to dive there and be able to stay for couple of  days to observe the behavior of certain marine animals. Mark saw this was his only chance so he apply he was chosen to go on the trip. Since he really wanted to do it, he had to train and get ready for the dive. Especially since he had to go through a set of training and test before he was sure he would be going on the aquatic adventure.  He had to learn to use the equipment, learn the safety drills and be able to do a set of task with and without a face mask.   Good thing he pass all the tests,  and  was  fit and prepared because if not he was not going to be one of the few who had the opportunity to go on the aquatic adventure.  His overall opinion of the adventure is that it was very interesting he really enjoyed the different task and the only thing that was not so good was the food.  This shows you that anything can happen and when you get an opportunity take it. -Claudia

Grateful

Three years later we find ourselves sitting here with people that once were strangers. Where has the time gone? Tick Tock Tick Tock. As we remember all the good times. We all grew together as one young, niave, confused, and scared into wise, intelligent young adults in a blink of an eye. Upward Bound Math & Science... who would ever think that I would be here? Six long weeks in the summer dealing with new and old mentors, seeing old friends and making new friends. Then there’s the Saturday Academic school year. Rather than sleeping in on a Saturday we here learning something new.  Where does it end? Is it all worth it? Yes indeed, having mentors that’s always there for you and support from a group of friends. As it all comes to an end all that’s left to be done is to be thankful that I ever joined.

-Rithly

Monkey Jungle

To start off the experience at Monkey Jungle we did something quite perculiar. We went snail hunting. I thought we wouldn't find any because snails are pretty small and we were in the woods. But surprisingly we found about 10 snails, but we didn't just spot them and walk away. We had to measure their distance from us by using pre-calculus. But after the snail hunting we went to see the monkeys! To be honest some monkeys were kind of cute, others were so repugnant that they reminded me of a girl I know. But we almost hands on with the monkeys, they were that close. We participated in a behavioral activity involving the monkeys, we had to jot down what they were doing every 30 seconds for 12 minutes. It was a rather boring activity but the overall experience at Monkey Jungle was enjoyable. - Marckenson B.B.B.J. Dumelle

Pot luck XD

In our class we had pot luck; we would all agree to bring food that is traditional. At first we were going to do it at Bill Bags. Sadly there were mosquitos and they were attacking us like crazy. Especially when we’re setting the food down. While we were agreeing where to go next, we wanted to go to South Beach but our mentors pointed out that there was no time because we shared the bus with the juniors who had to be picked up from RSMAS and plus, there were no picnic tables. We finally had made a decision, so we packed up and went to Virginia Key Beach. Once we made it there, we had our pot luck. The food was delicious...Leandra's chicken, the rice and etc. Later we went to the water; everybody was having an amazing time. There was the usual, people being thrown in the water, the nice sandy sand in the sand (lol). With the hot sun here in Miami, normally it would rain but it didn't- we were lucky. After being there and having a good time, we all were tired had to pick up the juniors. Mainly we had a good time and enjoyed it especially that is our last summer.

-Denise XD

Pennekamp Key West

Early morning wakeup call ready to leave for John Penne Kamp! You would imagine after the first few time one would get used to it but not really. A long 45 minutes’ drive to Key Largo with experienced swimmers and newbies. You could just picture the faces of the freshmen: excited and eager if only they knew what was in store for them.  Third time is the charm with me being there my third time was no problem. I was excited to get back out in the deep sea to explore the life underneath surface.  When we finally get there we get are gear and set out into the ocean in the boat ride.  A 10- 15 minutes boat ride to a designated location where we will set out to explore the ocean. Were finally here! 1, 2, 3 Jump! With that said me and my swimming buddy was out in the ocean ready to adventure the sea. With a slight current swimming against us made it a tad bit tiring but surely wasn’t a challenge for us. Coral, fishes, and a statue was all pleasant to see all over again. Sad to think that it will be are last year doing this. Boom! Boom! There goes the sound to return to the boat. All settled and getting ready to go back to shore I just sit back and relax. Laying down thinking about how three years went by so last and the summer even quicker. What’s in hold out there for us the class of 2014? Where will I be few years from now? Many questions ran through my mind as the summer come to the end with the boat setting back to shore. Hmmm…    
-Rithly

Day of dolphins

July 25, 2013

Everyone drags their feet along down the hallway of the RSMAS campus. No one is ever excited for lecture day. Ever. The day started out with the usual craziness around the museum. A big blur of energy coming from kids 9^th through 12^th grade.  Felix was rocking Amanda’s spunky purple wig, which really didn’t look too bad on him.  We all hopped on the crispy, sizzling cheese bus. Our lecture consisted of the world’s favorite, adorable aquatic mammals, dolphins and whales. Though the presentation didn’t really have the typical pictures of trained, happy dolphins, jumping out of the water.  No, it was much, much more heart breaking. So much that one of the Junior females almost busted out in tears about 5 times in a row. Gladly, she pulled herself together.  We discussed the rehabilitation process of beached whales and dolphins. But our hearts just kept getting crushed when we found out that only 10% of the animals that are “rescued” make it out to sea once again. Then we experienced what the cadaver looks like for these animals. Then came 10 brutal minutes of blood, guts, tissue, scars, gashes, and dead animals, which was a little too graphic for some of our younger juniors. However, we didn’t end on a note that was too gruesome, after words the presenter gave us tips on how we could reduce beaching’s of these animals that we claim to love ever so much. All in all, the day was very informative, even though the presentation messed with all of our emotions at some point, it was still very enjoyable.

-Leandra J

Pennekamp

On Friday we went on a field trip to John Pennekamp. This in my opinion is the second most anticipated trip of the summer. It's definitely one of the most memorable. I say this because it's the only snorkeling we do with all four classes at once (freshman, sophomores, juniors, and seniors).
To clear things up, John Pennekamp is a park where you can go snorkeling, kayaking, and on boat rides. It also has a beach. When we went we were taken to snorkel around and see The Christ of The Abyss. This is an 8 1/2 foot 4,000 pound sculpture of Jesus in 25ft deep water. It's AWESOME!! If you like you can even dive down and touch the hands of the sculpture.
When we got to Pennekamp we all got our rental gear and got on the boat to our destination.

On the way to the site we're told about all the safety and emergency procedures and such, and what to do if you feel the need to puke (Yuck!). Once there we all got our gear on, buddied up, and jumped in. Again, it was awesomness... even though one of my buddies kept getting lost *cough cough*. Anyways, we all had fun, I didn't touch the statue this year but I did have fish following me and such. All I have left to say is awesomesauce :)

-Aminah

Scared Freshmen

Friday was the day of our annual Pennekamp trip. I had only been once before; I wasn't able to go last year. So I was excited to give it another try. The only downside was waking up so early. We had to be at the museum by 6:30 am. Ugh! Why so early? Don't answer, I know. It's a far ride up to Pennekamp.
        We arrive at Pennekamp and are told to run off the bus. I just woke up from a nap like many of the others so we're mostly just speed walking. We get our gear and make sure the fins fit and everything. After that we sit on a bench for further instructions. Everyone who's been to Pennekamp before immediately start putting on tons of sunscreen. We know from experience that the sun is our enemy while on the boat and in the water.
       We get on a boat and are driven out to a spot in the ocean. We get in the water and most of the freshmen are terrified. They have only snorkeled in the ocean where all they have to do is stand up and they'll be alright. You can't do that at Pennekamp. The water is like a bazillion feet deep. Their feet don't come close to touching the ground. They were in for like ten minutes before giving up.
        After watching the frightened freshmen, I went to touch underwater Jesus. Unfortunately, I got distracted by a school of blue fish. Blue is my favorite color; I couldn't help it. They were beautiful. When I finally decided to go back to the challenge of touching Jesus, they blow the horn calling us back. I never got to touch Jesus.

        --Nicole

Wigs! Dolphins! OH MY!

Today was a very interesting and questionable day. It all started with this purple wig; well it was my purple wig. Why did I have a purple wig at the program? It’s a long and unimportant story...the story here is that in the morning, I was rocking out that purple wig until Felix saw the wig and asked to put it on. Now, you need to understand that Felix is a grown man with a mustache. A mustache people!!! A mustache plus a purple wig and a museum equals a lot of questionable looks and laughter. It’s like when your parent drop you off for your first day of school and shouts out your childhood embarrassing nickname as you are in the middle of a crowd… and they have rollers/hair net on. Funny but somewhat embarrassing to say that is your dad. Alright, it wasn't that bad but it was just too much to handle for the day. Yet, it created an interesting morning as he went around the museum greeting all the impact students. The wig-scapades was short lived because it was getting too hot underneath all that purple hair for him. So, with some help from my friend, Kaitlin, I put my wig back on and we all headed to RSMAS. Just my luck we had a speaker. I was scared that she would question me wearing a purple wig but she didn't and to my surprise the talk wasn't as bad as I expected. It was really interesting, though it’s hard to top off an undersea Aquatics lab Mark talked to us about last week. Our speaker was Ruth Ewing and she is a veterinary medical officer. She worked with a government program to help stranded mammals. That means those poor animals that get washed up on the beach shores sometimes and the ones that are way too far from their habits. She showed us some cases she had, even the ones that didn't end so well. It was kind of sad but she didn't let it end that way.

She even told us about getting ahead during our college year, the importance of taking internships and doing volunteer work. That it will help and may even get us a job at the place we volunteer at. Out of all the talks, I felt like her talk hit home with me. Probably it was because she also gave us a life lesson from her own experiences. -Amanda 

Senior Pot Luck

        This week is the last week of IMPACT and mostly my last post. Here at the Miami Science Museum we are a family so last Wednesday we had a Pot Luck. This pot luck was just for the seniors. Everyone was assigned to bring a dish and I brought cake and brownies. The morning started off kind of rough. The person who was supposed to bring the plates, spoons, and forks didn’t bring anything. Once we got that problem solved there was another problem. Everyone wanted to go to South Beach but we didn’t have time. So, we went to Bill bags Beach first and we were there for literally 10 minutes and already getting bit by mosquitos. The mosquitos were so serious and we had a limited supply of bug spray so we had to find another beach to go to. We ended up going to Virginia Key. From there everything was good. There weren’t many mosquitos and we had a lot of food.  Once we finally got everything settled we all were able to sit down and enjoy the food that everyone brought. Then we got in the water and had a good time. This was a good summer and I will always remember our first pot luck. -Mystic

                                                                                                                       

Yummy for the Tummy

Being a part of the Miami Science Museum Upward Bound Program means that we cooperate as a family. When one falls we all fall. If one is in trouble then we all are in trouble. That is our model; and this week we had the privilege, well the senior class, to participate in a potluck. A potluck is a gathering of people where each person or group of people may contribute a dish of food prepared by the person or the group of people, to be shared among the group. We planned this diligently so we can make this an enjoyable event. We brought dishes from our culture so that we all can get a taste of each of our backgrounds. Though we are a family we all know we come from different cultures and background and this potluck allowed us to receive a taste of that. The morning of the potluck it was a little difficult finding an exact location. Each beach had its own pros and cons but finally we decided on Virginia Key Beach in Key Biscayne, Florida. Once we unloaded the bus we set out to work. We established an enclosed area where we would set all the food out like a picnic table; sort of a buffet style table. Our mentors Laura and Amanda then decided to start a fire to keep all the flies and bugs away. This was also beneficial because we were able to reheat the food. Once the food was heated and our table was decorated with the delicious food brought by the seniors we made a line to start serving the food. Our servers, Laura, Rithly, Me (Elizabeth), made sure the plates were filled with food. We had a variety of food. From homemade BBQ chicken to Publix’s fried chicken. We also had roasted potatoes that Nicole brought, Mushroom rice that I brought, Chips and Dip that Rithly brought, Pastalito’s that Anthony Brought, Baked Beans and Veggie Salad that Amanda the student brought, and Laura with her great tasting Empanada’s and much more. It was truly a buffet. We also had our mentor Amanda bring some vegan brownies that had some interesting ingredients to substitute milk and eggs; But in all it was pretty good. It was truly time to crack jokes and have lots of fun. One of the funniest things done at the time of the potluck was when we realize the lack of spoons to serve. So our mentor Laura thought of this brilliant idea to stick to plastic spoons together with aluminum foil and mold it into a spoon. Lol. It was indeed a struggle spoon; but it was our struggle spoon and I wouldn’t have it any other way. After our feast we all congregated to the water were we gone deeper than we usually do.  We were so far out that me, the tallest person in our class, barely could stand on my tip toes; but it was so much fun. Amanda brought her daughters float device board thing (lol) and made rithly and mystic float on it. In the water we splashed, laughed and enjoyed ourselves. Our day was truly successful; and I wouldn’t have had it any other way. This being our last year has opened our eyes to show that we’ve been on this journey for four years now. And through all the hard aches and struggles and situations and ups and downs and good times and bad times to even horrible times we have stuck together to come down to this moment. We’re seniors. We’ve been through it all and it has been a much enjoyable ride! -Liz

Going in!!!

Monkeys and Snails

One of our Friday field trips was going to monkey jungle. In reality it was a pretty great experience because we, well I got to physically interact with them even though I wasn't supposed to. I put in $0.25 into a machine and it gave me sunflower seeds and when I held up my hand into a little opening in the corner, the monkeys grabbed the sunflower seeds from my hands. Their fingers were amazingly soft, but don’t tell ANYBODY because I wasn't supposed to, and I can be charged with a crime!!! At the end of the day, we actually learned more about snails than monkeys which I wasn't too happy with but at least I learned some interesting facts about snails which include that snails are hermaphrodites, which in layman's terms means they have both male and female genitals. That really gross its like a human being a boy and a girl like Lady Gaga!! :D Another activity we did was use math to figure out how high a snail was up on the tree. We also taped the trees wear we found the snails. Each species had a different tape color assigned to it.

                                                                                                                            -Anthony 

Here we are using math skills to record data

Fun over! Time to get to work

     I am sad to say the trip to Tampa is over. A summary of the trip was that it was nonstop fun and entertainment from beginning to end. The places we visited were really nice for example the Florida aquarium, the beaches, national parks and more.  The day before the last we visited De Soto National Memorial. We took a walk on the memorial trail that takes you through a mangrove swamp out to the manatee river. We had a tour guide while walking through the trail we learned about the different incidents dealing with the native Indians that took place around 1953 that left a great impact in many of the Indians lives. After we came back from the national memorial, we headed back to the hotel to relax for a couple of hours. Then we got dress real and went to Apple Bees for a nice fancy dinner.  In general the trip was well organized, everything was nice, and the thing that made it even better was the foods. I could still taste the ribs, pork, Chinese food, fast food, and pasta... etc.  For a person that likes to eat I was in paradise for a couple of days.  Since the trip is over, it’s time to get back to work, and get darker in the sun.  Good bye Tampa, goodbye delicious food, I’m going to Miss yawl!  Hello beach days in the hot sun, hello box lunch! Time to get to business and get everything done! Since the summer is almost done.  -Claudia